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Hi, all. I received my kit a few days ago and I would like to post the progress of my build here and ask questions. Please help me out with advice and corrections.

First off, I have a question about wiring. My kit has several multi colored 22 gauge wire and twisted red & black wire and one thicker, 20 gauge I assume, black wire.

What am I going to use the 20 ga black wire for?

I see that the twisted wire is for the heater wiring.

I assume that the multi-colored 22 ga wire is for everything else (except for the transformers which have their own wires).

Does the entire eyelet board use the same gauge wire (leads from eyelets and jumper wiring)?

How do I tell the difference between stranded and solid core wire and when do I use each with this kit? I have seen references to stranded vs solid core but I do not see whats going on yet?

On the sIII plexi layout there are thick gray connections drawn from the input jacks to V1 and from the gain pot to V2. What gauge wire is used to make these connections? Do the thick gray lines mean anything special like wire thickness (as opposed to the thinner multi colored connections drawn elsewhere on the layout)?

I really look forward to starting but each time I sit down to work I run into questions like this and I do not want proceed until I am sure. This is my first build and outside of a few BYOC pedals I have limited electronics experience. I want to take my time and build an incredible sounding amp!

Your help and advice would be appreciated!!!

Congrats my friend! You're gonna love it!

The thick black wire is probably the shielded single-conductor cable you will use to wire your input jacks to V1 and your gain pot to V2.

Use the 22 ga black wire for any wireing around the power supply. Just some extra in case.

entire eyelet board uses the same gauge wire

Stranded wire has many fine strands. Solid has one thick one

Thick gray is the shielded cable

_________________
Stephen
Web: www.trinityamps.com. Facebook: facebook.com/trinityamps. Twitter: @trinityamps

Here is the bottom of the board. Please look it over for flaws or mistakes and let me know what you think.

http://www.peerlesstone.com/images/18watt/18watt.html

On the layout one of the .022uF caps is marked C1 .022 uF. Does this correspond with the one .022 uF cap I have marked 0801R? The other .022 uFs are marked 0816R.

The circle on the 0801R is also on the opposite end with respect to the writing.

Please advise.

I have posted a pic of the 1st half of the board. I am slowly working left to right. Please, let me know what you think. See any problems or anything?

You'll see that the 2 last caps have not been soldered yet. I hope to finish the board today.

http://www.peerlesstone.com/images/18watt/18watt.html

Looks good so far peerless

_________________
Stephen
Web: www.trinityamps.com. Facebook: facebook.com/trinityamps. Twitter: @trinityamps

Here is the completed tag board. Please let me know if ya'll see any potential problems?

Please especially check one thing for me. THe 3rd eyelet from the end is jumpered to the 2nd eyelet from the end. I noticed that the layout did not match the pic and I was unsure what to do? I simply made it look like the pic realizing that the jumper does what the the layout intends. Is that part ok?

http://www.peerlesstone.com/images/18watt/tag_board.jpg
http://www.peerlesstone.com/images/18watt/18watt.html

That is fine and the board is fine. Some of the turrets appear to not be soldered.

_________________
Stephen
Web: www.trinityamps.com. Facebook: facebook.com/trinityamps. Twitter: @trinityamps

I completed the heater wiring. I ran out of twisted wire for V1 so I had to finish up with a different color.

Oh and let me ask this. For the preamp tubes I connected the red wire to pin#5 and jumpered the connection to pin#4. I did this for v3, v2 and v1. This is how it is shown on the layout for v1 and v2 however it is switched on v3 (red wire goes to pin#4 and its jumpered to pin#5). Same thing though, right?? It doesn't matter?

Please check everything out....

http://www.peerlesstone.com/images/18watt/18watt.html

I guess I will go ahead and add the other components jumpered to the tube pins next (w/o soldering pins that will also receive flying leads). THen move on the the mains wiring.

Same thing.

Looks good. Keep any bare wires away from the chassis.

_________________
Stephen
Web: www.trinityamps.com. Facebook: facebook.com/trinityamps. Twitter: @trinityamps

I am having a blast building this amp. I ordered a couple of amp books to help me understand more about what I am doing. I read the Gerald BBQ books years ago as I started playing through vintage Fenders.

One of the books I found useful is Building Valve Amplifiers by Morgan Jones. This is a pretty common book and it is the companion to his first book, Valve Amplifiers which is considered to be a must read by some people. While the first book (I have not read) is a general introduction to tube amps (all types) where the Building Valve Amps books is about how building techniques and tools. I thought this book was kinda dry at first (and it is) but I have found it really useful as I started building my amp. It covers many construction topics in pretty good detail. For instance heater wiring and separating AC and DC lines from noise. It takes some about torrent board construction and how the layout of the board (the flow of components from left to right) is critical for preventing noise. There is a lot on star grounding and even the ground bus bar is explored in some detail. There are also really good sections on tools and measuring techniques.

My favorite amp book so far though is The Guitar Amp Handbook by Dave Hunter. I was familiar with Dave's other books on effects and guitars and I figured this book would be too general. However I really learned a lot from this book. For the most part *I agree* with a lot of information shared in this book. This book is very well written. I have been learning about amps for almost 10 years now. I have come across a lot of info from many sources like you all have as well. This book has pretty much everything summed up very nicely and his slant on the subject is pretty much just like mine is. For instance, his opinion of vintage amps to modern amps and solid state amps or his take on different makes of capacitors. I even agree with his 'middle position' stance of carbon comp resistors where Dave did a pretty good job of explaining how knowing the component's function and role within the circuit should help you decide if this is a spot where a CC resistor may well serve its purpose. We have all read over and over about tube amps and why they are special, especially vintage ones. If you are on this forum you are also probably hip to the benefits of building amp kits and the DIY scene. Yet I still found his intro chapter on these topics very interesting and I thought the level of writing was very good. The best part of the book (for me) was simply where he worked through a schematic of a Fender Princeton amp describing what all the components do. As I read this, I grabbed my Trinity 18 Layout and started cross-referencing things and taking notes. I found that both amps had a lot in common and I sorta had one of those intellectual breakthroughs where a lot of things rolling around in your head come together. This helped me understand amps better than ever before.

I also bought the Marshall books. One is called Marshall: The Father of Loud and the other is Marshall: The Story of the Sound of Rock. This was more for inspiration and fun. They talk some about the 18 watt amp. Although I have not read much of either yet, they are more like coffee table books for me. There was some ok info on the original 18 watt Marshall. Basically, both books made the point that this amp is special because it is small and sounds very *very* good and has its own personality and gain texture.

I guess you can tell I need to spend more time building and less reading! I have not gotten very far very fast on my build but I really want this project to turn out well. I have always been a vintage Fender guy but I play them dirty more than clean. I have been wanting to get into the Marshall sound for quite awhile but I can't afford an expensive amp right now. I do not like to compromise on tone. From my experience I think kits and DIY is the way to go. You can get so much more and spend much less. Its turning out to be a lot of fun too.

I was up all night doing heater wiring and now I gotta work. Maybe I can do more on the amp later tonight. I can't wait to get back to it. Aside from 3-4 pedals I have done nothing like this before (...and my BYOC eq pedal never did work!). I have been taking my time and double checking and rechecking everything. I like to read ahead a coupe of steps and I can't start until I totally think I understand what is going on (not on a intellectual level, just putting things together right). Stephen can testitfy to that! He has been great in answering all my questions with patience. I am glad I chose this kit to work with over some of the others I considered.

I can hardly wait to hear this amp! I hope it works when I flip that switch. If not I might, uhh, thats a scary thought.

Thanks coco... I am having a problem with my exposed wire being to long when I connect them to the tube sockets........

Also, I noticed that the insulation broke in a couple of places. I am not sure how concerned I should be or if there is some clever way to fix it.

I create a 'hook' at the end of the exposed wire, hook it into place, squeeze it tight with needle nose pliers and solder away. then I bend the wire into place. This keeps the exposed wire to a minimum.

If the wire is exposed where it can touch the chassis that's bad. I would be very careful leaving any exposed wire on the connecting wires. . Personally, I would not do it. Use your judgment.

_________________
Stephen
Web: www.trinityamps.com. Facebook: facebook.com/trinityamps. Twitter: @trinityamps

I have not taken the time to post images of my build but I have been slowly making progress working on it for a few hours every other day or so. Here are a couple of overhead shots of the board as it appeared two days ago. As of right now I just have to place the v1 and v2 input lines from the jacks and pot.









Please let me know if you see any potential problems or issues that may negatively impact the tone.

So far:

Clip the leads from the 100K resistor on the gain pot
Check the leads on the .68 cap at the end to make sure they dont touch the mounting bolts.

_________________
Stephen
Web: www.trinityamps.com. Facebook: facebook.com/trinityamps. Twitter: @trinityamps

Thanks, coco... The 68k pot is hoovering over the bolts...I was thinking of putting something like shrink wrap over the bolts but at least for now the leads are a good distance away. Placement of that cap was better before I started monkeying with it.

I trimmed the resistor leads, too. It was just hanging there until I attached a line from the pot to v2.

I have completely finished the amp and I am ready to start it up. I am going over the startup procedure and making sure I understand how to make all the measurements before I apply any power.

I'll post some better pictures later....

The amp is finished! Pretty much, anyway. My voltages look good. The plexi channel rocks. Very authentic to say the least. I am playing it through a Mesa Boogie 2x12 with V30s.

The normal channel is not working though. No signal at all. Stephen has been quite helpful throughout my build and has given me some ideas to try. I have been enjoying the plexi side so much I have not done any more trouble shooting.

Later I want to post more pics of the build and perhaps a summary of the questions I asked Stephen and maybe some build tips. I pretty much did this with hardly any background or experience with electronics so other newbies might find it useful. I used all the info from the forum; especially the pics.

I would like to thank everybody that posted their build pics. It was a invaluable resource.

Hey Peerless- Congrats, your amp looks great. Hope you get the normal channel sorted, it really turns into a beast with both channels bridged!
Have fun!

_________________
"If I'm free, it's because I'm always running."
- Jimi Hendrix

Yeah, Man.. The beast is what I am looking for. I want an amp that
can go from my blues tone to EVH in small package. I love the tone
of EL84s. In many ways this may be the perfect amp for me.

Here are the suggestions Coco outlined for troubleshooting my normal channel:

1. make sure the jacks are wired correctly. I think they are, so check
continuity from a plugged in cable to the back of the jack and then from
there to the 68K resistor. Since both inputs aren't working, I suspect a
problem at of after V1.

2. So confirm all your connections match the layout. Measure from component lead to component lead, e.g. not from pin to turret. Test the connection from board 0.022 cap/470K intersection point turret to the volume control .

(1) I rechecked the input jack wiring and I think its good. Continuity checks out from the instrument cable tip to the hot lead of the jack and then on to the 68k resistor lead. This is true for both normal input jacks. I could get continuity up to the resistor. I could not get continuity on the resistor lead on the other side of the resistor or from the V1P7 pin itself.

(2) Not complete. QUESTION: When measuring from component lead to lead and testing the 0.022 cap/470K intersection, do I just do continuity tests or is there something else? If so exactly how do I test using the meter (all this is new to me)?

Should I be able to measure 500k resistance for the normal volume pot after its wired up in the amp? It measures 0.0. The other pots measures their appropriate values but some were more difficult than others to get stable readings from. Whats supposed to be going on with this pot?